PC Plus SuperCD (UK) 1995 August

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1 Information Technology Key Stages 1 to 4 Music Key Stages 1 to 4 Childsplay RECORDER Program Notes When you first use the disc - - place it in your floppy disc drive and type A: and Enter if it is the A drive, or B: and Enter if it is the B drive. Then type RECORDER and Enter. The program will then run from the floppy disc, which you must leave in the drive for the whole session. The escape key allows you to leave the program while a Menu is on the screen. Should you wish to install Recorder onto your hard disc it will use 600K of disc space. type INSTALL and Enter. This copies all files on the floppy disk to a new directory called RECMUSIC on your C drive and the program will run without further typing. Remove the floppy disk. When you next run the program from DOS, change to the new directory by typing CD RECMUSIC (Enter) from the C:\ prompt and then RECORDER (Enter) You can run the program from Program Manager in windows. The command line for the icon that you set up should be RECORDER. The working directory must be C:\RECMUSIC Special Case Should your hard disk be anything other than the C drive you will need to create a new directory, copy all the files to that directory (using COPY *.*), change to the new directory and type Recorder. Problems If the program fails to find any tunes to load (or any scores for the finger tests) you may have omitted to change to the working directory before running Recorder. It is NOT sufficient to type C:\RECMUSIC\RECORDER while in the root directory for example. Instead type CD RECMUSIC and Enter, and then RECORDER and Enter as stated above. We are not aware of any other problems arising, but if they do please contact Childsplay on 0435 873594. We also welcome constructive comments and suggestions. A Short Demonstration When the opening screen appears, Press Enter TWICE, and then cursor down, and then the Spacebar Sit back and watch! It's a very simple tune but gives a taste of the what the program can do. Watch the holes in the picture of the recorder. Any tune that you write can be played back in the same way, showing which holes to cover. You can also choose to go through the tune one note at a time. Follow the prompts in the message window to play it again at a different speed or to step a note at a time. If you choose a slow speed you can use function key f1 while the tune is playing to return to the opening screen. Press "M" at the end of the tune. The Main Menu The opening screen is the Main Menu and it shows the major activities. Pressing the spacebar will highlight each activity in turn. Press the Enter key when you have lit up the activity you would like to see. To change to another activity, return to the Main Menu first. You can do this directly from most of the sub-menus by pressing "M". The program notes that follow describe each activity in the order in which they are shown on the Main Menu. Tunes This is the activity that people enjoy most, especially when they venture into writing their own tune. Be prepared to alter it a few times to get it to sound right! This has been made as easy as possible. First though, select a tune from the Tunes Menu by using the spacebar as before and pressing Enter. The tunes get more advanced, introducing additional notes as you go down the list. It's a good idea to master each tune before going on to the next. When you have selected a tune, you will see all the notes on the screen and a Recorder with all the holes black, which means they are all open. Select a speed by pressing a number key from 1 to 5. The speeds are as follows: Speed 1 Largo 40 crotchets per minute Speed 2 Adagio 110 " " " Speed 3 Andante 140 " " " Speed 4 Allegro 170 " " " Speed 5 Prestissimo 250 " " " The selected speed is now shown at the beginning of the tune. If you have your recorder with you, get ready and press the spacebar. You will be "counted in" by the number of beats in a bar so that you can start playing at exactly the right time. For each note, cover the holes that the recorder shows in white. If this is all too difficult do not despair, just press "P" at the end of the tune and then "S" to allow you to step through the tune at your own speed, pressing the spacebar for each note. It is better to have a friend who will press the bar for you. Using the end of the recorder is NOT a good idea. You may find that even with the right holes covered the recorder sounds a little out of tune with the computer. If so then you need to use the "Help and Tuning" option from the Main Menu. At the end of a tune you can press "A" to go directly to the list of tunes, or use "M" to go back to the Main Menu. Tunes that are listed on the Tunes Menu cannot be altered, but tunes you write yourself (and those you load from disc) can be altered as often as you like and then saved. Writing a tune This activity has been designed as simply as possible for young people to use. Deliberately, there are no complications like barlines, key signatures or time signatures, and the length of tune is kept to a manageable 30 notes. The information typed into the computer is enough however to play a very wide range of popular tunes if you wish to type them in. Select "Tunes" from the Main Menu, (or press "A" immediately after playing a tune). Highlight "Write or Load a tune" and press Enter . Press "W" and a red circle appears, which will become the first note you write. Now tell the computer three things about the note - at each stage you will see a message telling you what to do next:- 1. How high it is (move the red circle up or down the page), then 2. Whether it is a Sharp or Flat or neither (type "S", "F" or "N"), then 3. The length of the note (type "M", "C" or "Q"). For example, start writing the scale of G major by using the "up" cursor key to move the red note up to the second line (which is "G") and press "N" (for Natural). The red circle turns black. Now select "C" for a crotchet. The first note is now fixed, unless you use "U" to undo it. The red circle now shows you are ready for the next note, so move up one position with the cursor key, press "N" and "C" as before. Carry on putting in notes, but when you come to the seventh note (F) do not press "N" for Natural - use "S" for Sharp instead. When you have written 8 notes, press Enter and play what you have written. At speeds 1, 2 and 3 you can keep track because each note turns red as it is playing. After a few tries you can write a scale in about 10 seconds. If you have got it wrong, press "E" to edit your scale. If you prefer, you can rub out as many notes as you like (starting with the last note) and try again, but the undo last note tool can only be used before pressing Enter at the end of your tune. Minims are twice as long as Crotchets which are twice as long as quavers. Pressing the "." key, (the full stop) before selecting "M" or "C" or "Q" makes the note longer by half as much again. This is called a "dotted" note. Sometimes during writing (or editing) you may try to do something the computer rejects, like putting a flat sign in front of bottom "C", which is a note the descant recorder cannot play. Another example is trying to insert when there are already 30 notes in the tune. And if you press Enter (which finishes a tune) accidentally before even writing a note, you get a strange message. Editing a Tune Editing (which means "altering") a tune is as easy as altering a sentence with a word processor. Press "E" for Edit when your tune is on the screen. A purple marker appears after the last note. Use the cursor keys to move the marker to the note where you need an alteration. Choose one of the following:- 1 If you want to rub out the note altogether then press "D" (delete). 2 If you want to change the note (maybe to add a sharp, or to shorten it) use "C" (change). 3 If you want an extra note immediately before the one you have marked use "I" (Insert). When your alterations are finished, press Enter. (You can make more changes later). You can play the new version by pressing "P" or prepare for saving it on disc by pressing "S". If you want to give up and go back to the Main Menu press "A" for abort, but you will lose your tune for ever if you do! The red circle appears if you have typed "C" or "I", so you can use it to write the new note. If there is another alteration to do, move the marker to the spot and do the alteration as above. To add a note at the end of a tune, move the marker past the last note and use "I" (Insert). If there are many notes to add you will find it easier to complete a tune before changing it. Saving a Tune After writing a tune, or editing it, you have the option to save it. Press "S", and then a name for the tune. This name must be not more than 8 letters. You can use numbers instead of letters, like "Tune2", and even spaces are allowed, but only in the middle, not at either end. Do not use inverted commas or full stops and things like that. This is important to avoid losing your tune. Having typed a name, press Enter. The computer saves the tune and you are back at the Main Menu. Loading a Tune If you want to see your tune again, (or load a new one from disc) select "Tunes" from the Main Menu, select "Write or Load a Tune" and type "L". You will see your tune in a list of all the tunes that are stored on your disc. Type the name of the tune you want - do this carefully because if the computer does not find the exact name you will find yourself back at the Main Menu. Some of the names have unusual spelling, due to having to keep them to 8 letters. Do NOT type the DAT at the end, nor the full stop. After typing the name press Enter and the tune appears on the screen for you to play or alter or save under a different name. Reading a Note This activity, selected from the Main Menu, gives practice in recognising the written note, and is done in as simple a way as possible. The full range of the recorder is covered except sharps and flats which would need at least two keystrokes to answer. The notes are selected at random with the exception that identical consecutive notes are rejected. No child feels too discouraged provided he/she answers all 10, because everyone eventually finishes with 10 correct answers. Pressing "L" for line names displays a well known mnemonic giving the linenames from bottom to top. The spaces between are not named, perhaps reinforcing the need to know the alphabet. Help and Tuning As prompts are provided on all screens, and this booklet is available, this help screen simply mentions one or two points to remember. The Tuning section is very useful to assist in getting a group of recorders to be tuned correctly. Typing "A" gives true concert pitch ("A" = 440 per minute) and shows the user which holes to cover to play the same note. The pitch of the recorder should be adjusted to this using the tuning joint as described, and the other joint in the instrument can be twisted as described to make the little finger more comfortable. The mention of Handel's "A" serves to illustrate that if a recorder can be adjusted to it then it is possible for that same recorder to be at least a semitone out from the rest of the orchestra! Learning the notes in order With very young children it is easy to try to teach them too much at a time and so this section gives suggestions as to which notes to concentrate on at first. The tunes that are resident within the program (as opposed to those on disc) are graded to suit this approach. Tunes can be added to the library to give a wider choice and to continue the progression if required. There is mention of using the chart, which children from 7 upwards find quite easy. Demonstration of all Notes This shows pictorially how to play every note in the descant recorder's range, but is not so readily accessible as the chart. The method of displaying the notes on the music sheet reinforces the fact that the "shape" of each octave is identical. The Finger Chart This chart is easily accessed from the Main Menu and again shows the complete range of the instrument. Some players prefer to see it as they view the recorder, i.e. with the thumb at the bottom of the picture. Pressing "U" changes it to the view observed from the other end. "U" again returns it to the players view. The top line gives the first octave, the second line the second, as colour coded on the screen. The use of the thumbnail for "pinched" notes is shown also. Two Families Apart from being a tribute to Carl Dolmetsch, the author of memorable Recorder literature and teaching material, this section allows the range of each member of the recorder family to be heard by pressing the keys indicated. It also serves to explain the justified confusion in many minds as to how music is written for such a group. Finger Tests Selecting this activity from the Main Menu presents a Menu which at first looks familiar, but the activities are all to do with testing knowledge and storing the test results. As instructed on the screen, select an activity by using the spacebar to move the highlight, then press Enter. Test Your Skill Enter your name (up to 15 letters), then say whether you want to be tested in one octave or two, then say whether you want the sound to be on or off. You will now need to answer ten questions. If you don't know the answer, look carefully at which fingers are used in each hand and press "H". This shows you the finger chart. Find which note uses the fingers shown in the question. This is easy if you take your time. Then press "M" to move back to the question, which you can now answer. When you get an answer wrong, the screen remains until you press Space, so you can study the fingering again. Although the test is timed, you get more points for a right answer than you lose if you take half a minute to answer. You will see that the number beside "Help given" will increase each time you look at the chart, but this only counts as one point off your final score. Show or Print Scores Select this option to see all scores for the present session, which can include scores loaded in from a previous session. Up to 25 scores can be in memory at once, with all details of name, difficulty correct answers, how much help was needed and the time taken. If you would like a printout, check the printer is on line and has paper. If in doubt, say "N" to a printout and then select "Save Scores for this session". Then go back to obtaining a printout. Load Previous Scores If there are scores in memory when you select this option, you are asked if you would like to save them, because loading scores will erase those in memory. You are shown a list of score files that the computer finds on your disc. Type the one you want carefully, without putting ".TST" at the end. Press Enter and the scores are shown on the screen, either for a printout or for you to add to by doing more tests, bearing in mind that 25 is the maximum number you can have at a time. Cancel Scores for this session If you would like a clean score sheet, perhaps because you would rather people didn't know your score, select this option. You will be warned that ALL scores in memory will be lost, not just one! In time, your disc will have a lot of score files on it, perhaps too many to find your way through. No facility is provided in the program to delete them in case someone silly does it by mistake. So a "Wizard" will have to be found who can delete old, unwanted .TST files from the DOS prompt in the usual way. The Scoring Explained The "Total Score" shown on the score sheet is an assessment of performance taking into account the difficulty levels chosen (including whether the sound is on or off which is the method some children with a good sense of pitch use to get the right answer). All the various allowances are listed. Finished with Tests This takes you back to the Main Menu, but only if all scores have been saved. Printed and published by Childsplay Software, "Port Reeve", East Street, Mayfield, East Sussex. TN20 6TZ